Day 2 - Black Friday

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Day 2: Black Friday/General Shopping Tips & Tricks

I must be crazy, because for the past few years I have never shopped on Black Friday... but I have always worked it! I would request to open Black Fridays when I worked at Kohls. It was such a rush! I would get up around 2am and be there by 3am. I remember the first year I worked there was a LINE outside of Kohls.

I go to ring the doorbell to get let in and the woman who was first in line was like, "Honey, we've been standing out here for an hour. You can't just walk in!" I turned to her and said, "If you want someone to ring up your purchases I can. Otherwise you stood out here for no reason." She then tried to elbow past me to get in when my manager opened the door for me and my manager had to guide her back out! Craaazy.

Sometimes if there was a good deal the managers would let us put a purchase aside and buy it with the Black Friday price (AND our discount) once our shift ended. Sometimes. It was a sweet deal when they did!

I used to love working because time went by super fast. I was always busy, and never doing menial tasks, I was ringing people up and running around... it was great. There were some massively crazy people but it wasn't too bad. One year we had a TV promotion and my manager had the tickets in her hand that customers would get, bring to the register, and we'd call to have it delivered up to them. When the door opened she got pushed back and into my register counter! She climbed up, stood on my table and yelled, "Back! BACK! Or NO TVS for ANYONE!" They all fell silent and stepped back. She climbed down and said, "Now, form a line and I will hand these out, in a civil manner."

And she did.

Kohls would give us Dunkin Donuts and Coffee in the morning (wish I drank the stuff, a sugar high had to suffice) and catered in lunch. They didn't want us leaving and wasting our lunch in line somewhere or losing our parking spot, so free food! I'd be out of there in the early afternoon and home with my family for the rest of the day (after a nap of course).

Working at Disney Black Friday wasn't bad, nothing changed there... except the traffic. My apartment was by the outlet malls and it was RIDICULOUS. I went the back roundabout way trying to get to work (while a couple of my friends who had later shifts tried to go to Best Buy...noooo way) and it took me a long time to get to EPCOT.

This year? We will be in South Carolina as Ryan's family is Thanksgiving this year. Will I brave the stores? Probably not. I am much more content to sleep off the Turkey Hangover!

TIPS: If you shop... be nice to the person at the register. They got up early and braved the masses and don't even get to get good deals. They don't have holiday pay or anything else special, they're working in madness. So smile, say Thank You, and be patient if something chaotic happens. It is usually not their fault!

I also heard on the radio if you are one of those people who waits in line before the store opens... do a buddy system. Have one person wait in line and the other sit in the car with the heat on, then switch! That way you don't both have to be miserable and cold for hours!